What's the hardware?

The test bed is a 2GB Intel Core 2 Duo based Apple Mac Mini running OS X Tiger with Vmware's Fusion to allow virtual Linux and Windows machines. I currently have Ubuntu Ultimate V7.10, Kubuntu V7.04, and Windows XP running concurrently with OS X Tiger. Yes, on the same machine, at the same times! Fusion is the ultimate have your cake and eat it too software. No messing with Bootcamp and no need to set up as a dual boot machine. The virtual "partitions" are simply large files that I store on an external hard drive. I can literally command+tab between Linux or Windows and OS X. The first time I had Internet Explorer running in an OS X window on the OS X desktop was a wild experience. Soon I expect to have IE running with Wine under Linux without the need of Windows. Free is the word.


I have another machine setup specifically with Ubuntu Ultimate. It is a 733Mhz Pentium based machine called a Micron ClientPro. It was destined for the scrap pile but got a last minute reprieve for this series of tests. It runs surprisingly well and runs most applications as if it were a much more powerful machine running Windows. Before tossing out one of those old machines, load it up with Ubuntu and take it out for a spin.

Google Sketchup

Google Sketchup will run in Wine under Ubuntu. Toolbars and menu items appear black until cursor is moved over them. Usable but a little distracting. Much easier if you know the keyboard shortcuts. I'll try on another machine to see if it displays the same problems.

What is Ubuntu?

http://www.linux.com/distributions/114365

http://www.ubuntu.com/

The beginning.

How can you have architecture without windows? That's crazy you say. How do you see out of a building without windows? Why use windows when you can use Linux instead! This blog will deal with my adventures into using Linux instead of Windows in my architectural practice. The particular flavour will be Ubuntu which is based on Debian. So join me in sharing your experiences in practising architecture WITHOUT using Windows. As an added bonus we will try to do it for free.